The present invention relates to a lottery ticket holder and marking guide configured to protectively hold and accurately select particular numbers on any lottery card.
Numerous states in the United States operate lotteries as a way of raising money. Many of these lotteries use a card printed with groups of numbers, each group constituting a separate game of chance. A person may purchase any or all of the games on a card. A person plays the games by marking or blackening the numbers on the card. A computer then reads the card and returns it to the player. Typically game players have favorite numbers and the cards are used over and over. One problem encountered in the use of the lottery game cards is that the cards are difficult preserve between uses because the cards are characteristically made of a paper product that can easily be wrinkled or folded. When a card is wrinkled or folded it is rendered unreadable and a new card has to be filled out. Filling out a new card can be difficult and time consuming for anyone, especially for people with poor eyesight.
A problem that often occurs when a person is filling out a lottery card is that the card is inaccurately completed when a person blackens the wrong number because of poor memory or poor eyesight. Lottery cards have many small numbers that are difficult to see. It is also necessary to remember multiple numbers to play a typical lottery game. The present invention provides a lotto player a convenient protective holder and guide for marking a lottery card and eliminates the nuisance of having to remember what numbers to play.
Various types of lottery card holders have been invented to help a person preserve their lottery card. Some of these devices require ungainly attachments and clips. Others are suitable for reading the cards of only one type of game, or the cards from only one state, and cannot be used for cards of other states or other types of games. Many prior attempts have been made to alleviate the problems associated with lottery card holders.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,509 (Dull) discloses a lottery play slip and lottery card jacket for protectively holding one or a plurality of play slips or lottery tickets. This invention is comprised of a transparent panel that protectively encloses and holds lottery tickets. This invention does not overcome the problem of being able to accurately fill in the spaces of the card while it is enclosed in the ticket jacket. There is no suggestion to teach a ticket or card holder with a cover having slots that lineup with the numbers of a lottery card used as a guide to fill out the lottery card.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,379 (Parks) teaches the use of a single fold wallet for storing lottery tickets, and for readily identifying winning numbers on each ticket, having flat sides provided with transparent faced pockets, a swingable flat member having a rectangular transparent window for overlying lotto tickets, and a marking pen carried in a loop of flexible material at the fold line of the wallet and formed for marking rings on the transparent window to indicate the location of winning numbers in each of the numbered unit areas of lotto tickets. However this patent also suffers in that it does not act as guide for marking a lottery card. It is limited in use to merely holding lottery cards.
Another lottery card holding instrument is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,080,223 (Mitsuyama). This patent relates to a card case, made of two rectangular sheets of plastic or leather, produced by fusing or seaming three edges thereof together and leaving one edge thereof unfused. One or both of the rectangular sheets are provided with an elongated opening the width of which is at least sufficient to receive a fingertip so as to allow a card to be pushed through the open side. The Mitsuyama patent does teach a slip jacket or container for protectively holding cards and allowing cards to be easily dispensed; however this patent fails to allow for accurately filling in the spaces corresponding to the number markings with a pen or pencil on a Lotto card. In addition its three sided connection is ungainly and in practice doesn't work. The cards can not be easily inserted or removed.
Thus it is readily apparent that there is a longfelt need for a convenient holder and guide for marking a lottery card which acts as a marking guide for filling out a lottery card and eliminates the nuisance of remembering numbers and provides a convenient protective holder that stores and preserves the lottery card between uses.